Just one in four people think Cornwall Council is trustworthy according to the latest residents’ survey.

The results from the survey, which was carried out in the summer, revealed that many people do not view the council in a good light.

Just 25 per cent of people thought the council was trustworthy – a drop of 6 per cent on the last survey. And just 33 per cent felt the local authority was making their local area a better place to live, down 11 per cent from last year.

Only 20 per cent of people surveyed thought the council was efficient and well run (down 6 per cent) and just 23 per cent believe the council acted on the concerns of local residents (down 3 per cent).

The survey found that just 17 per cent believed the council enabled them to influence decisions in their local area (down 1 per cent) and only 39 per cent said the council was working to make the area cleaner (down 7 per cent).

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Just 40 per cent of people believed that the council was campaigning and standing up for Cornwall (down 9 per cent) and only 36 per cent felt that the council treated all types of people fairly (down 5 per cent).

Residents were also asked whether they thought that the council provided value for money – just 30 per cent believed that it did.

The damning response came from the survey which was completed by 11,247 people from across the county.

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The survey showed that 82 per cent of people were satisfied with life in Cornwall, although there were differences across the county with 92 per cent in Padstow satisfied, compared with 64 per cent in Bodmin.

When looking at council services 88 per cent were happy with rubbish collection, 81 per cent with recycling, 57 per cent with street cleaning, sports and leisure got a 50 per cent satisfaction rating and library services were 49 per cent.

Cornwall Council Leader Adam Paynter said the survey results provided a clear indication of what matters most to the people of Cornwall, as well as areas where room for improvement was needed.

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“As a council, we need to shape our decisions around what our residents tell us are most important to them," he said. "These results have been reflected in our draft budget and business plan, so we are keen to get feedback from residents to see if we have got this right.

“While we will always have to balance community expectations with reduced budgets and service demand, it is clear we need to better engage our local residents in decisions and show people how their feedback has been considered. We want residents to provide feedback and influence the decisions that we make, not just via an annual resident survey but 365 days a year.

“Turning around satisfaction levels will take time, and this Cabinet has committed to listen to residents as one of our key values. The survey highlights some strengths – we love where we live, but more work is needed for this to change.”